


Of Gingerbread Men and Reindeer

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-22
Updated: 2010-12-22
Packaged: 2018-08-15 16:32:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8063761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: Malcolm comes to terms with the Tucker tradition of over-the-top Christmas decorations.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).
> 
>  **Author's notes:** I don't own them, nor do I make a cent from this story.
> 
> Thanks to Mike for his beta work!

Malcolm and Trip had wildly different opinions about Christmas decorations, which for their first four Christmases on Earth had involved negotiated compromise. Like most things they compromised on, this worked reasonably well. Trip got to cover the house in multicolored lights, so long as there were no blow-up snow globes on the lawn. Malcolm had talked his husband out of a family of animatronic snowmen and conceded to the holographic reindeer on the roof. Their neighborhood was predominantly Starfleet, so a lot of their coworkers saw Tripâ€™s handiwork, and somehow the two of them had managed to work things out so that Trip could be proud of the decorated house without making Malcolm cringe over it. Theyâ€™d found a middle ground of decorating â€“ just in time to have it turned upside down. 

Now Malcolm was outnumbered. At three, Evan was already quite sure of what he did and did not like. Regrettably, to Malcolmâ€™s way of thinking, he liked absurd Christmas decorations. (There were days where Malcolm doubted the biolabâ€™s claim that Evan inherited DNA from him and Trip in equal measure. Evan was very much like Trip. Most of the time, Malcolm adored that - just not when it came to decorating.) The more garish, the more their son liked it. Though, to be fair, Evan was only three years old, and he naturally liked the flashiest and most attention-grabbing things. The previous Christmas heâ€™d picked out flashing lights which actually came with a warning for epileptics. Malcolm placed the blame for pointing out all of these decorations squarely on Tripâ€™s unrepentant shoulders. His husband had argued that Evanâ€™s love of reindeer was due to the book which Malcolm had picked up, which was true, and Malcolm resigned himself to the hideous twinkling animatronic reindeer. 

The whole idea of involving Evan in picking out new Christmas decorations was a tradition from Tripâ€™s family. Malcolm didnâ€™t know why they couldnâ€™t use what they already owned (other than Tripâ€™s continuing desire to outdo himself) and had come on this shopping excursion hoping to curb in a few excesses, but that wasnâ€™t proving very possible. Evan liked that stupid reindeer better than anything else in the store, and in the face of his sonâ€™s exuberant excitement Malcolm didnâ€™t stand a chance. The reindeer went into their cart. Trip would probably spend three nights â€˜improvingâ€™ the animatronics, just because he could. 

Reed family Christmas traditions tended to be more subdued. (Except the singing of Christmas carols. They were not a musically gifted family, and Malcolm had several relatives who evidently believed that volume was an adequate substitute for singing on-key. Then there was Uncle David, who regarded lyrics as mere suggestions.) Malcolm was incorporating some of these traditions into his life with Trip; his husband was particularly fond of Great-Aunt Marthaâ€™s wassail recipe. Heâ€™d added more once Evan was old enough to enjoy them. When Malcolm was a child, every Christmas Eve his parents would hide two presents somewhere in the house, one for him and one for Madeline. Evan liked this as much as Malcolm always had. For his part, Malcolm had made the happy discovery that he had as much fun watching his son hunt for a present as heâ€™d had when he was the boy searching for a gift. 

It was this sort of parental doting which got the blasted animatronic reindeer into their cart. 

Evan eyed the animatronic reindeer and declared, â€œHe wants a friend.â€ 

â€œWe have elves at home, remember?â€ said Malcolm. Theyâ€™d shown Evan the decorations they had taken down from the attic. â€œHe can be friends with the elves.â€ 

The elves had been Tripâ€™s acquisition last year. Commander de Silva told Malcolm that his daughter initially thought theyâ€™d decorated with â€˜little Vulcans.â€™ 

â€œNo, a reindeer friend,â€ said Evan. 

â€œElves make good friends,â€ suggested Trip. 

â€œHe wants a friend **like him**.â€ 

Damn, but that was hard logic to counter, if one set aside the fact that animatronic reindeer werenâ€™t sentient. Malcolm gave Trip a resigned look and got a nod in return. â€œAlright,â€ he conceded, â€œhe can have a friend. But remember, you have to pick out your very favorite decorations, because weâ€™re not buying them all.â€ 

It was important to them that Evan not grow up with a sense of entitlement, particularly as there was no getting around the fact that he was spoiled. (This was the fault of many people besides his fathers, notably both sets of grandparents and Hoshi.) They were trying to raise a grounded son, though. So Evan was learning that he had to make choices because he couldnâ€™t have every item that caught his fancy. 

But he could have two animatronic reindeer. Malcolm didnâ€™t particularly like to admit it, but he had very little resistance when both his husband and his son gave him that wide-eyed pleading look. Evan had inherited that from Trip too, though his eyes were the same color as Malcolmâ€™s own. 

â€œYay!â€ Evan watched with delight as Trip put another reindeer in the cart. â€œA friend!â€ 

â€œCome on,â€ Malcolm said, reaching for his sonâ€™s hand. â€œLetâ€™s go look at the lights.â€ 

â€œI like lights!â€ 

â€œI know,â€ he replied, smiling at Evanâ€™s sheer delight. Atrocious decorations and all, there was nevertheless a good deal to be said in favor of this particular Tucker family tradition. Trip gave him a knowing grin, understanding all to well that Malcolm was developing an appreciation for the tradition, if not the specific decorations. 

â€œBe careful with them, Papa.â€ 

Trip nodded solemnly. â€œI will.â€ 

â€œAnd the star.â€ 

â€œThatâ€™s safe too,â€ promised Trip. Theyâ€™d needed a new star for the tree since their old one met an unpleasant end last year when Malcolm tripped on one of Evanâ€™s new toys and fell on it. 

â€œDo stars get lonely?â€ 

â€œNope,â€ said Trip confidently before Malcolm had quite wrapped his head around the question. Trip was better with these kinds of queries. â€œAt night they see all the other stars out the window.â€ 

â€œGood.â€ Evan then spotted the lights on display and squealed, â€œGingermen!â€ 

Theyâ€™d recently received a box of gingerbread men from Tripâ€™s mother, and Evan loved them. So much so, in fact, that he even ate carrots without complaint in order to get his gingerbread man faster. Malcolm thought about testing the magic of gingerbread men with Brussels sprouts, but Trip hated Brussels sprouts almost as much as Evan and vetoed that idea. 

â€œWe canâ€™t eat these,â€ Malcolm said, lest Evan get any ideas. â€œTheyâ€™re decorations, not cookies.â€ 

â€œThere are candy canes, too,â€ pointed out Trip. He picked Evan up so their son could see the candy canes better. Both candy canes and gingerbread men were strands of lights made to be hung from the eaves. Malcolm didnâ€™t know why regular lights werenâ€™t sufficient, but living with Trip heâ€™d learned it was better if he didnâ€™t ask. 

â€œI like the gingermen more. Can we get the gingermen?â€ 

â€œSure,â€ said Trip, setting Evan down. 

Evan looked at the display strand while Trip put a couple boxes in the cart. â€œThese arenâ€™t as nice as Grammyâ€™s. I can eat hers.â€ 

A young woman picking out lights next to them chuckled. â€œHard to argue with that,â€ she said. 

â€œWeâ€™ll keep these for years,â€ Malcolm informed Evan. 

â€œBut Grammy can make us more of hers.â€ 

Trip, Malcolm, and the young woman all failed to hide their laughter. 

â€œDonâ€™t you think we should ask her first, kiddo?â€ suggested Trip. 

â€œOkay. Do you think we should save one for Santa?â€ 

Malcolm thought in that case theyâ€™d have to save two, one for him and one for Trip. They didnâ€™t get a lot of homemade baked goods other than what Tripâ€™s mother sent. Fortunately, Trip suggested, â€œI think Santa would want us to eat these.â€ 

â€œGoody!â€ Relieved that he got an extra gingerbread man, Evan turned his mind back to decorations. 

Malcolm considered himself fortunate when Evanâ€™s attention was caught by a holographic gingerbread man, as it meant his son never even noticed the blow-up snow globes. Animatronic reindeer were quite enough for one year without adding the snow globes. 

â€œMore gingermen!â€ Evan tugged Malcolm by his hand along over to the display of holographic decorations. â€œCome on, Daddy!â€ 

â€œWe donâ€™t run in stores, remember?â€ 

â€œOh.â€ Evan slowed ever so slightly. â€œThey wave!â€ 

â€œSo they do,â€ he said. â€œAnd look, theyâ€™re holding candy canes.â€ 

Maddie went through a phase where she found it disturbing to eat something that was smiling up at her. For two Christmases during his childhood Malcolm hadnâ€™t so much as seen a gingerbread man. Maddie was coming for Christmas this year, and he wondered what she would think of their gingerbread men decorations. 

â€œI think,â€ announced Trip, â€œthis is just the thing we need to finish our decorating.â€ 

â€œYes!â€ agreed Evan wholeheartedly. â€œLook, heâ€™s bigger than me.â€ He reached out to touch this giant gingerbread man, only to have his hand pass through the hologram. 

â€œItâ€™s a hologram,â€ explained Trip. â€œItâ€™s just showing us a picture of a big gingerbread man.â€ 

Evan cared less for the technical details than the pressing question, â€œDo you think Grammy could make us a gingerman this big?â€ 

While Trip gently broke the news that no, Grammy couldnâ€™t make a gingerbread man that big, it occurred to Malcolm that at least Evan didnâ€™t want a pet reindeer. 

This year, anyway. 


End file.
